1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an improvement in an electrical connector having a plurality of conductive contacts provided for coming into press-contact with connecting terminals provided on a circuit board, such as a flexible printed circuit board (FPC), so as to put the circuit board in electrical connection with another electrical device, such as a main solid circuit board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A circuit board, such as a relatively small-sized flexible printed circuit board or the like, used in electronic apparatus of various kinds is often mounted on a main solid circuit board, on which various electrical parts are directly mounted, by means of an electrical connector which is fixed to and connected electrically with the main solid circuit board. The electrical connector has a plurality of conductive contacts for coming into contact with connecting terminals provided on the circuit board and is operative to connect electrically, through the conductive contacts, the connecting terminals provided on the circuit board with conductive circuit pattern portions formed on the main solid circuit board.
For example, a previously proposed electrical connector, which is used for mounting a flexible printed circuit board on a main solid circuit board, is provided with a housing made of insulator which has an opening through which at least a part of the flexible printed circuit board is inserted into the housing. In the housing, a plurality of conductive contacts are provided to be arranged along the opening. These conductive contacts are operative to come into contact respectively with a plurality of connecting terminals provided on the flexible printed circuit board when the flexible printed circuit board is inserted into the housing through the opening. The electrical connector is further provided with an actuator which is provided to be rotatable to the housing so as to engage with each of the conductive contacts arranged in the housing. When the actuator is rotated in regard to the housing, an operating portion of each of the conductive contacts is moved by the actuator to put the conductive contact in press-contact with a corresponding one of the connecting terminals provided on the flexible printed circuit board.
Each of the conductive contacts arranged in the housing is made of conductive resilient material to have a fixed part fixed to the housing and a movable part coupled with the fixed part for constituting the operating portion. The fixed part of the conductive contact is connected electrically with a conductive circuit pattern portion provided on the main solid circuit board. The movable part of the conductive contact is provided thereon with a contacting projection for coming into press-contact with the connecting terminal provided on the flexible printed circuit board and moved by the actuator.
In the previously proposed electrical connector as mentioned above, when the flexible printed circuit board is inserted into the housing through the opening provided thereon and the actuator is rotated in a predetermined direction, the actuator operates to move the movable part of each of the conductive contacts for causing the contacting projection provided thereon to come into press-contact with a corresponding one of the connecting terminals provided on the flexible printed circuit board, and then, when contacting projection provided the movable part of each of the conductive contacts is put in a condition of press-contact with the connecting terminal provided on the flexible printed circuit board and the actuator is rotated in a direction opposite to the above-mentioned predetermined direction, the actuator operates to move the movable part of each of the conductive contacts for releasing the contacting projection provided thereon from the condition of press-contact with the connecting terminal provided on the flexible printed circuit board, as shown in, for example, the Japanese patent application published before examination under publication number 2002-270290 (Published patent document 1).
In such an electrical connector as shown in the published patent document 1 constituting a first previous electrical connector, each of the conductive contacts is formed into an H-shaped member. The H-shaped member has a pair of beams coupled with each other through a connecting part. One of the beams constitutes the fixed part of the conductive contact and the other of the beams constitutes the movable part of the conductive contact. When the flexible printed circuit board is inserted into the housing through the opening provided thereon, a part of the flexible printed circuit board, on which the connecting terminals are provided, is put between the fixed and movable parts of each of the conductive contacts.
Then, when the actuator is rotated for moving the movable part of each of the conductive contacts to cause the contacting projection provided thereon to come into press-contact with the corresponding connecting terminal on the flexible printed circuit board, the part of the flexible printed circuit board, on which the connecting terminals are arranged, is held between the fixed part of each of the conductive contacts and the contacting projection provided on the movable part of each of the conductive contacts, which is brought into press-contact with the corresponding connecting terminal.
There has been another type of previously proposed electrical connector constituting a second previous electrical connector which is constructed basically in a similar manner to the first previous electrical connector mentioned above. In the second previous electrical connector which is provided with a plurality of conductive contacts arranged in a housing, each of which has a fixed part, a movable part and a connecting part for connecting the movable part with the fixed part, and an actuator provided to be rotatable to the housing, when a circuit board, such as a flexible printed circuit board, is inserted into the housing through an opening provided on the same and the actuator is rotated to move the movable part of each of the conductive contacts for causing a contacting projection provided on the movable part of the conductive contact to come into press-contact with a corresponding one of connecting terminals provided on the circuit board, the connecting part of each of the conductive contacts inclines toward the contacting projection provided on the movable part of the conductive contact, as shown in, for example, the Japanese patent application published before examination under publication number 2004-71160 (Published patent document 2). With the second previous electrical connector thus constituted, the movable part of each of the conductive contacts is able to be easily moved by means of rotating movement of the actuator to cause the contacting projection provided thereon to come into press-contact with the connecting terminal provided on the circuit board.
Besides, there has been a further different type of previously proposed electrical connector constituting a third previous electrical connector which is also constructed basically in a similar manner to the first previous electrical connector mentioned above. In the third previous electrical connector which is provided with a plurality of conductive contacts arranged in a housing, each of which has a fixed part, a movable part and a connecting part for connecting the movable part with the fixed part, and an actuator provided to be rotatable to the housing, an upper end portion of the connecting part of each of the conductive contacts inclines toward a contacting projection provided on the movable part of the conductive contact when a circuit board, such as a flexible printed circuit board, is inserted into the housing through an opening provided on the same and the actuator is rotated to move the movable part of each of the conductive contacts for causing the contacting projection provided on the movable part of the conductive contact to come into press-contact with a corresponding one of connecting terminals provided on the circuit board, and a lower end portion of the connecting part of each of the conductive contacts stands out toward the opening provided on the housing so as to be wider than the upper end portion of the connecting part of the conductive contact, as shown in, for example, the Japanese patent application published before examination under publication number 2007-173043 (Published patent document 3). With the third previous electrical connector thus constituted, a fulcrum for inclining movement of the upper end portion of the connecting part of each of the conductive contacts is able to be easily formed in the connecting part of the conductive contact when the upper end portion of the connecting part of each of the conductive contact inclines in synchronism with rotating movement of the actuator.
In each of the electrical connectors thus proposed previously to be used for mounting the circuit board, such as the flexible printed circuit board, on the main solid circuit board, when the circuit board is inserted into the housing through the opening provided thereon so as to be brought in the condition in which the conductive contacts arranged in the housing are operative to come into press-contact respectively with the connecting terminals provided on the circuit board, the part of the circuit board on which the connecting terminals are arranged is put between the fixed and movable parts of each of the conductive contacts in the housing. At this time, a top end of the part of the circuit board put between the fixed and movable parts of each of the conductive contacts comes into contact with the connecting part or other parts of each of the conductive contacts in the housing so as to be prevented from going on further deep in the housing. Therefore, the circuit board is not inserted deep enough into the housing so that it is undesirably feared that the part of the circuit board put between the fixed and movable parts of each of the conductive contacts is unstably held in the housing.
Especially, in the case of the second previous electrical connector in which the connecting part of each of the conductive contacts provided for connecting the movable part of the conductive contact with the fixed part of the conductive contact inclines toward the contacting projection provided on the movable part of the conductive contact when the circuit board is inserted into the housing through the opening provided thereon so that the part of the circuit board, on which the connecting terminals are arranged, is put between the fixed and movable parts of each of the conductive contacts in the housing and the actuator is rotated to move the movable part of each of the conductive contacts for causing the contacting projection provided on the movable part of the conductive contact to come into press-contact with a corresponding one of connecting terminals provided on the portion of the circuit board in the housing, the top end of the part of the circuit board in the housing, which is put in contact with the connecting part of each of the conductive contacts, is moved toward the opening provided on the housing by the connecting part of each of the conductive contacts inclining toward the contacting projection provided on the movable part of the conductive contact. As a result, the part of the circuit board having been inserted into the housing through the opening provided thereon to be put between the fixed and movable parts of each of the conductive contacts in the housing is moved to shift from the inside toward the outside of the housing and therefore held unstably in the housing.
Further, in the case of the third previous electrical connector in which the lower end portion of the connecting part of each of the conductive contacts provided for connecting the movable part of the conductive contact with the fixed part of the conductive contact stands out toward the opening provided on the housing so as to be wider than the upper end portion of the connecting part of the conductive contact, when the circuit board is inserted into the housing through the opening provided thereon so that the part of the circuit board, on which the connecting terminals are arranged, is put between the fixed and movable parts of each of the conductive contacts in the housing, the top end of the part of the circuit board comes into contact with the lower end portion of the connecting part of each of the conductive contacts, which stands out toward the opening provided on the housing, at a relatively shallow position in the housing so as to be prevented from going on further deep in the housing As a result, the part of the circuit board can not be inserted deep enough in the housing and therefore held unstably in the housing.